Maintenance costs: dinghy vs catamaran

cfitz

I read somewhere recently that a catamaran can be more expensive to maintain than a dinghy. I'm considering buying one at the moment and hadn't really allowed for extra maintenance costs. Anyone got any useful anecdotes or comparisons?

gdkaufmann

Not sure of the difference in costs, but generally speaking boats ( of all kinds) are largely maintenance costs.

There's some truth to the old yarns that:

BOAT stands for "Break out another thousand"

and

Boat ownership is like standing in the shower and pouring money down the drain.

That said, there's nothing like it.

Boat + Water = BLISS

fergal.b

I'm no expert on these boats but I would say the catamaran is the more aggressive of the two so more likely to suffer from wear and tear also having two hulls they probably have two keels and rudders giving you twice as much chance of breaking one

Tow

catamaran can be more expensive to maintain than a dinghy

It alsodepends on what you have in mind, a 50 foot catamaran will cost more to run than a Mirror dinghy.

gdkaufmann: A boat is like a woman, if you have two at the same time you will end up with a broken hart.

ado100

It really depends on what you intend doing with either boat. If you want to race, then you'll probably find the entry fees slightly higher for a cat as well as the storage fees at your local sailing club (they simply take up more room in the dinghy park).

cfitz

I'm talking about, say a Hobie 15 versus an RS 200. Two rudders but no centreboards. Double trapeze wires but no boom. Doesn't seem to be a significant amount of extra parts to repair and replace to me, but I've never owned a boat before so I'm pretty clueless.

Pigeon Reaper

The costs should be roughly the same as any other dinghy apart from storage fees which will depend on the area being used.

It is true that large crusing Cats cost more than monohulls due to the extra maintaince costs and duplication of gear which you won't need to worry about on a small hobbie cat or dart. Most of the smaller cats don't have centre boards either so thats one less expense.

Cost wouldn't be a factor I'd weigh if considering a small cat.

gdkaufmann

Tow wrote: »

gdkaufmann: A boat is like a woman, if you have two at the same time you will end up with a broken hart.

So right. And, two women.... THAT will cost you a lot of money.

cfitz

Thanks for the help guys. I'll start another thread listing the various boats I'm considering and hopefully you might have a bit more insight for me.

murphym7

gdkaufmann wrote: »

Not sure of the difference in costs, but generally speaking boats ( of all kinds) are largely maintenance costs.

There's some truth to the old yarns that:

BOAT stands for "Break out another thousand"

and

Boat ownership is like standing in the shower and pouring money down the drain.

That said, there's nothing like it.

Boat + Water = BLISS

Boat ownership is like standing in the shower and Tearing up €50 notes.:)

Steve

*reminisces*

Years ago, I was crewing on a boat and the owner had just bought what was then the original iteration of tape drive sails - the transparent ones with the Mylar tapes holding them together.

Anyways, on the first outing with them, the owner was down the back with the sailmaker and, following a few tacks and huddled discussion, eventually piped up: "lads, every time that sail flaps it costs me £10... so do it faster...

So, yeah, it's a money pit no matter what you do.

Daibheid

I've sailed Hobie 16s and Hurricane 5.9s as well as a few dinghies like Fireballs and the like. In my experience I'd say that Catamarans break stuff a lot more frequently than a dinghy.

But then they do deliver bigger thrills too.